Do your bit to help Louis walk again
Despite being numb to the feeling, Louis Peter was often awake when he underwent his amputations.
Louis Peter has undergone 10 operations, of which six were amputations, since he fell from a ladder and broke his ankle in March.
All his life, 75-year-old Louis had been a hard-working, independent individual who just about never needed any assistance from his daughter Melissa Jansen. That all changed in March this year, however, when Louis fell from a ladder while on a job and broke his right ankle.
Most people would think standard procedure would follow – he would go to the hospital, have the injury stapled/ stitched, placed in a cast, and in a few months his leg should have healed. That was not the case however, as within a matter of days of the operation, Louis’s foot and lower leg began to rot.
Doctors were not sure why Louis’s leg had begun rotting, but they knew that they had to amputate. Louis’s first amputation occurred on 26 March, with the chop coming approximately 10cm below his knee.
Louis would undergo a further five amputations, simply because each time a chop was made, the flesh would begin to rot again. When he was preparing to have his final operation, Louis was instructed to go for a CT Angiogram, which is a scan that maps the blood flow in the body.
The results of the scan showed that Louis only had blood flow up until ±10cm above his knee, which is where the final amputation was made. This explained why the flesh had rotted every time an amputation was performed.
The process had been excruciating for Louis who, for the majority of his six amputations, was not under anaesthetic, but simply numb to the feeling of his leg being cut. But, this still meant that he was able to hear how they had to cut away pieces of his leg.
In all, Louis spent two months and three weeks in Helen Joseph Hospital, undergoing six amputations and 10 operations before his discharge in late June.
Louis has since moved in with his daughter Melissa, and her husband and two children. He has quickly adapted to living with his family instead of alone, becoming best friends with his granddaughter, Peyton, who is five years old.
Peyton’s favourite activity to do around the house with her grandfather, is to go for ‘train rides’ in his lap, on the wheelchair. Louis also regularly cooks for the family, especially when Melissa and her husband Rodney return home late from work.
Melissa has since starting a crowdfunding campaign on Click n Donate to raise funds to get her father a prosthetic leg.
You can donate to their cause here: PLEASE HELP MY DAD WALK AGAIN – GOAL R40 000
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